Naveen sings old number, says Centre is only shedding crocodile tears

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik took potshots at his favourite target, the Congress- led UPA government at the Centre, accusing it of shedding only “crocodile tears” for the cyclone-hit people of the state while exhorting the masses to elect more BJD MPs and allow the party enough clout to wrest the state’s due.

The BJD chief while addressing a public meeting in Ganjam district said “The Centre has no sympathy for the cyclone affected people, it only sheds crocodile tears”.

Naveen Patnaik, Chief Minister

Urging people to vote for BJD in large numbers, Patnaik said “If more number of BJD candidates are elected in the coming Lok Sabha and assembly elections, we can fight for the state’s interest in far more effective way”.

He accused the Centre for not sending a single UPA minister to visit the state when it was hit by twin calamities of immense proportions, which clearly proved how the Centre was treating Odisha, even at the time of disasters.

Highlighting his government’s decision to offer bonus of Rs100 per quintal of paddy over and above the minimum support price to help the farmers who were badly hit by the twin disasters, Patnaik termed the Centre’s assistance to the state after two months of the calamity as “ too little”.

Patnaik said the BJD government had reserved 50 per cent of posts for women in the urban and rural bodies as part of the government’s efforts to raise the status and development of all sections of the people — farmers, women and youth who would continue to be the main focus of his government.